EA abandoning offline game development

Yet another move that will slowly drain money from their already strained coffers. I mean, seriously, they don't think offline gaming counts for anything anymore? They'll just start putting out games where the single player component is a tutorial for online, maybe?

Last time i checked, even Activision, who has more reason than anyone to go straight for a online gaming only model, won't do something this moronic.

I like my 25 hour, packaged goods, fire-and-forget offline play, thank you very much.

"25 hours and your out" - What the hell game of theirs are they referring to? Dragon Age is about the only thing that comes close to that. The rest seem to be in the 3-8 hour range.

So instead of adventures and story we are going to get more small maps that we play over and over (MOH, Sports arenas, etc)? Thats not innovation at all. But lets be honest the real reason they are doing this is what Jef pointed out in the article...$$$ through RMT.

I am sorry, I've heard this "argument" before in the past. This is B$ and, as you know, EA=B$ !

They just want the monies, is all. While the online world offers many possible and unexplored perks, there is always room for single-player games : can't pause an online game to a great degree, now can we?

I would be happy for EA to abandon single player gaming, since they are synonymous with "Satan" in the game world. The only downside is that they are a BIG studio, so it may hurt such games.

But hey, room for other developers to grab that money/market!

I don't think that "online" necessarily equals "MMO-style access model". I think the "online service model" can take many forms, as seen in the mobile gaming market.

Still, this announcement strikes me as stupid. Abandoning this segment of the market entirely is probably a miscalculation. I wonder if they're just trying to stir the pot...

I don't feel this is a very smart move on their part. Single player games have always been a very valid and engaging experience, more so for some people that I know than multi-player games. With multi-player games you have to share the story experience with other players where as in a single player game, the design team can create a very intimate experience that a single player can enjoy at their own pace.

I *really* hope this does not become a trend.

This is pure trash and would put me off of buying future EA Games games.

Why? Because EA shuts off the servers for virtually all of their games after 2-3 years post-launch. Part of the reason I don't buy games that require the internet to play single player (with the exception of Steam, which isn't going bankrupt anytime soon), because I don't want to have to download a crack just to get the single player working when the company shuts down its servers a couple years later.

I'm not entirely sure this is good business for them. Wouldn't you want to have players constantly buying new games, instead of devoting countless hours to just one or two?

Honestly, I'm hard pressed to find a game that's been released in the past two years that DOESN'T have an online component to it. Even Dragon Age had a slight Online system.

Really, EA isn't changing anything. They're just finally saying "We've been doing this for years....now we're just making official."

Can't say I didn't see it coming.

Terrible news. I would like to think that people will vote with their wallets over this but I doubt it and they will go on lapping it up, forcing every other major studio to follow suit and this will leave offline single-player gaming as a niche indie field.

I saw it coming from a while back when so many games started to shoehorn in multiplayer when it didn't fit. Bah. I love gaming but I despise the industry.

As some mentioned, it seems like EA are moving from single player to co-op games. Like every sports game they make will have you play a real opponent rather than the AI. Keep in mind that it's something totally different from actual MMOs

OK, not trying to offend anyone, but in my eyes EA have stopped being game developers a long time ago. It was when they bought countless studios, some with really amazing talent and ideas, and started releasing mostly buckets of poo, to put it lightly. They don't care about the players who buy their games, just the money that comes into their greedy little hands. Again, sorry if i picked on the studio you like, it's just my personal informed opinion.

Since we're on massively, just want to point out that it's highly unlikely EA will make a great MMO for us to enjoy. It's going to be microtransaction after microtransaction, pay2win, and overall just a genital stimulation for the economic and marketing departments.

This might be just the years of disappointment talking, but nothing above average will come out for the MMO community in the next few years...just a lot of clicks on the "purchase to winz gamez omgz" button in the EA Store.

I think the benefits to the consumer are just as clear... there's much more you can do with an online game with multiple players... why would they make a game that's landlocked?

Poor BioWare, going to get drug down even more by one of the most greedy gaming company's around.

Something needs to be done to stop these greedy company's from ruining gaming.

I happen to enjoy single-player/offline games. /rude EA